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Stephen Kutzy, born in West New York, NJ and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, has been appointed Peace Corps Country Director in Turkmenistan.

In 1974, after graduating from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Political Science and Education, Stephen Kutzy joined the Peace Corps as a Volunteer. He spent the next two and a half years in Laghman, Afghanistan. Back then, there was no Internet access in Afghanistan; no cell phones. In fact, there were no phones at all. No electricity, no running-water either. Conventional communication by mail was slow—a Christmas present from is family arrived almost a year late.

After his time in the Peace Corps, Stephen traveled and worked on a kibbutz in the Negev Desert. It was here that he met his wife, Lynn Gardner. When he returned to the U.S., Kutzy taught at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He and Ms. Gardner married in 1978 and moved to Esfahan, Iran, where Stephen worked for Telemedia, Inc. and his wife Lynn taught at the University of Esfahan. The Iranian revolution forced an early return to the United States.

Stephen settled in Florida, where he worked in the homebuilding industry with US Homes in their management development program. He was recruited by Arthur Rutenberg Homes, a luxury custom home building company, where he worked as a project manager in Palm Beach County. Several years later, Sabatello Construction of Palm Beach Gardens hired him as a Director of Purchasing. He remained with Sabatello Companies for 15 years.

After his children had finished college, he contacted Millard Fuller of Habitat for Humanity and suggested the humanitarian agency consider an office in Afghanistan to help refugees in the war-weary country. In February 2004, Stephen began work as Country Director for Habitat for Humanity International in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

He and his wife have two sons Lucas who is currently living in Taiwan and Noah who is currently living in New York City with his wife Nikki Draak.